FORMULA 1 world champion Jenson Button – who was born in Frome – has had a busy year on and off the track in 2023.

In January, Button took to Instagram to tell his followers about his third-place finish in a KA100 karting race, naming it his first race of the year. At the end of January, he also announced his plans to participate in the 24 hours of Le Mans race in June.

In February, Button became a world record holder for the most buttons pressed in the Batak board reflex test, marking a score of 58 in 30 seconds.

In mid-March he celebrated his first anniversary with his wife, Brittny, saying : “You have my heart Mrs Button.” At the end of March, Button participated in the NASCAR at COTA race the prepare and practice for his fast-approaching Le Mans race, where he would place 15th out of 39.

After training and practicing for it all year, 24 hours of Le Mans race finally took place on June 10. Button and his team would go on to place 39th out of 62; a valiant effort for having never raced this before. He took to Instagram to say “So there you have it, we finished the 24 hours of Le Mans and I couldn’t be happier.”

A month later, in July, Button would once again be behind the wheel for the Chicago Street Course NASCAR race.

He ended up coming 21st out of 37, and had this to say: “I had some good fights. I got overtaken by some, but I overtook a lot more, so it was enjoyable.  There’s definitely a bit of work for us all to do to challenge the Toyotas especially.”

Later in July, he would win ‘Driver of the Weekend’ at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

In mid-August, Button made his third and final planned Cup appearance of the season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track, placing 29th out of 39. He admitted the result was disappointing however was happy with his improvement and set the sixth fastest race lap time.

Just four days after this race, Button announced that he would be racing the Petit Le Mans in Georgia, United States. The event would take place in October.

In September, Button would be taking it old school and racing in an Alfa Giulietta Ti in a Goodwood Revival race – an event based around classic car racing.

In early October Jensen would prepare for the Petit Le Mans race, which would take place on October 14, Jenson and his team would go on to secure fifth place.

Soon after, Disney announced a Keanu Reeves hosted documentary about the Brawn GP team’s 2009 F1 world titles, with Button featuring.

Jensen Button would then announce his first race plans for 2024, the Daytona 24 hours race in January, where he would join the No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 GTP lineup.

On the 15th November, Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story, which featured Button, came out on Disney plus, and received extremely good reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the series 100% and IMDB scored it 8.6/10.

Button then announced in 2024 he will be making a full time return to racing, saying that he will compete in the 2024 World Endurance Cup. He is competing with Hertz team JOTA and will drive a Porsche 963.

He told www.fiawec.com: “Endurance racing is about teamwork and there is no better team than Hertz Team JOTA to be taking on the big manufacturers in hypercars. I’m already looking forward to the first race in Qatar but also know there’s a lot of work to be done so that we arrive prepared.”